Madam Deputy Speaker, we do support the Bill with some reservations. I was not very involved in the processing of this Bill, but I followed it very attentively. I do know that in Bills of this nature the ANC usually does a good job, and the DA has a very effective capacity of exerting the full measure of pressure that can be exerted to correct the endemic mistakes and vices of the ANC. [Interjections.]
We have always espoused the notion of co-operatives. Those of you - and there are very few that I see - who were at the World Trade Centre will remember that in our constitutional proposals, when were trying to negotiate an economic Constitution for the country, we wanted the principle of co-operativism to be entrenched in the Constitution.
It is one of the socialist principles which are good principles. Every now and then even the socialists and the communists are right, as even a dead clock is right twice a day. The principle of co-operativism is that of placing in the hands of those who use them the means of production, through the assistance of the state. We do endorse the notion of a second-tier co-operative. When the Co- operatives Act was passed for the first time, we made the point to the Minister of the time that what was being done was not sufficient; it was too little, and too much at the local level, to really enable the shifting of the ownership of the means of production from those who usually have them to those who are actually using them and manufacturing through them.
We endorse the fact that we have moved beyond the agricultural field to having a framework which could apply across the manufacturing spectrum of activities. It took a very long time for our suggestions, which were made to the previous Minister, to be registered and we are pleased in this respect, that they have been registered.
We are concerned about the structure. The hon Hill-Lewis spoke very eloquently about it. What he did not say was that perhaps what would have made sense was to have a Minister of Co-operatives, which I personally would have preferred to all the intermediary structures that have been put in place. In other countries Ministers of Co-operatives have been very effective, and I would, for one, vote for our Minister of Trade and Industry as a candidate for the job. He has, throughout his career as a Minister, shown a much greater inclination to work on the welfare side of trade and industry than on the actual production side.
If I were to judge by the way he is dressed in Parliament today, with his shirt outside of his trousers, I think that imagewise he fits better into the field of co-operativism than into that of trade and industry, where he should project an image which gives confidence to the international community that this is a serious place where we make serious money and we can do serious business!
What type of problems might arise with the Co-operatives Amendment Bill will depend on what type of finances and administrative capacity are put behind it. At times we adopt laws and just by doing that we can make a difference. Not on this occasion. We have created a framework that needs to be fleshed out with actual commitment and administrative capacity.
I hope that that is not going to be taken away from the present structures of the Department of Trade and Industry, which is a department that is working well. It has already shifted its attention far too much away from the need to create a South Africa Inc, a corporate structure for the country which will enable us to make money, develop social programmes and assist in their implementation.
The issue of capacitating this Bill is one that I think has not been sufficiently addressed, and we sincerely hope that it will be addressed, because otherwise we will for sure incur the huge costs that this Bill involves and not necessarily the huge profits that it could bring about for the whole of the country. Thank you. [Time expired.]